Savage Axis II XP in 308 - Is It the Scope, The Gun...or Me?

This seems to be the consensus for what I read - the XP has terrible bases and rings, not to mention the scope. Maybe XP stood for "Xtremely Poor"

And yes, once I realized I wasn't hitting anything, I asked my buddy (extensive rifle experience) to check it out. He suggested we go to the 25. He then monkeyed it with the rifle while I was talking with someone else. He wasn't able to hit paper on 25 either. Anyways, we shall try as many suggestions as been made here. Surely between all of those suggestions (starting with taking everything apart and reassembling it with a torque screwdriver and loctite) will yield better results. It will be bore sighted at home and then at the range at 25 with a oversized poster roll of paper plastering the board. I suspect we will find the issue pretty quickly now that we have a plan.

What sort of rest(s) was in use when your buddy tried to bore sight it? Is it likely that whatever he was using was solid enough to get a decent bore sight done?
 
This is a good point. He normally uses his Caldwell stand but his .22 was mounted on it in the 50 lane. I think he used one of the club's plastic weighted things - looks like a chunky barbell. I am sure it's nowhere near as secure as an actual stand. At any rate, in a couple of weeks we will have another run at this with better equipment in tow.
 
Just wanted to update my own thread with (thankfully) a positive outcome. Turns out the problem was the factory scope mounting, which is funny because originally I had assumed that if it is done by the factory, it must be done right.

A couple of weeks ago, on the advice of many here, I de-installed the scope/rings and base. Particularly with the rings, the gap wasn't even on both sides - one side was really tightened down where the top and bottom halves were touching. The other side had a large gap. This really surprised me because I always thought if it was done from the factory, it would have been done right.

I took everything apart and mounted the rings and scope the way I have done my other ones. Bore sighted it at home at around 30-40 feet in a hallway.

I took it to my club today, and just in case, a buddy brought me a long full sized brown paper roll which I covered the whole target backstop. Then I put on my normal targets on top of that, figuring even if I don't hit paper on my targets, I will at least hopefully hit the full sized brown paper somewhere and then can figure out what was wrong. I was at the shortest distance, 25 yards, which I know is overkill for a .308, but recall that neither myself nor my buddy hit paper last time.

Turns out I didn't need to much else adjustment wise. My first shot was not only on paper, but it was centered windage wise, just about 7 inches high. I was jumping for joy. Was going to do an elevation adjustment but would be taking it out to the 100 yard next time, so I left it and shot another 19 rounds. The grouping was pretty close - centered, but high.

So it turns out the problem was with the factory scope install and the rings. Lesson learned - never accept or assume that the factory installed on rifle / factory bore sighted ones will get you on paper. Almost better to just take off the scope and rings every time and do it yourself.
 
iron cat has that correct - I do not have luxury of an actual "range" - is "out-in-the-boonies" stuff with my portables - so the short range is like 25 paces or so - for scope sighting, for me, windage is first - then usually need it to be "on" or a bit low at that 25 paces - still likely to be high at 100 yards - that I do measure with a laser, from the shooting table front. Almost all my hunting rifles are "sighted in" about 3" high at 100 yards. Might be different needs for others.
 
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